In Spring, With You
by something-off
Summary: He's written and read this cliche a thousand times. Getting sucked into a world where he didn't understand wasn't new to him. Yet when he and his best friend encounter this new world which a million females in other dimensions once had, he doesn't know what to expect. No script, no planning. So he better just wing it. I mean, how cliche could it get? And yes, I meant to put he. OC
1. Day One - The Vase

**I've rewritten this like a hundred times and I think it's finally good enough to turn into an actual story! I hope you all like it!**  
**Its of course going to follow along the original story line, but I'm going to add my own little twists and turns here and there. **  
**I hope you all stick around long enough to help me decide what happens to my oc! **  
**I don't know if I quite want to turn this romantic yet, just let me know! **  
**thanks!**

* * *

My boots slapped against the hard concrete – much like my messenger bag hit along my hip in stride - as I maneuvered around the small puddles on the ground. Of course I couldn't miss all the puddles, obvious by the rather large stain on the bottom of my jeans from the dirty rain water. A small piece of toast clung by a thread between my teeth. I kept my eye on it, but also on the gaps of water below me, trying not to step in anymore muddy gunk. I was already not that presentable, but add the mud stains and messy hair- you have the classic, manga cliché commoner.

Of course it had to rain the night before, my thoughts hissed. It always had to rain when whatever big man up there predicted I would sleep in late, or when I would forget to tie my shoes on the way out the door, or when I would miss the bus and have to run to school instead. Or when I would do all three in the span of, like, five seconds.

Today was just one of those cliché days, I guess.

Today was one of those _major _cliché days. I felt it in my gut. And I hated it with all the fury I could muster. Which, now thinking about it, was probably only the amount that a small chipmunk could be angry at something? Maybe not even that much. I wasn't able to be angry at things. Like, ever. I blame that on my ability to be intimidated by anything and everything and everyone.

Social situations weren't my strong point, and I even got nervous around birds. So. Yeah…

I took a sharp left turn, flailing my arms out when it felt like I would fall over, and continue down the sidewalk at full speed. I inhaled and exhaled, keeping in rhythm with my quick steps, but also counting how fast my heart was going and keeping a firm grip on the inhaler in my pocket, just in case. I probably wouldn't need it, today being a nice, warm day and all, but you can never be too careful.

I bit my lip as I heaved out slowly, taking in sharp inhales through my nose. Then I noticed- Wait. _Something's missing._

Shit, what happened to my bread?

The space that was occupying my mouth was no longer, well, occupying my mouth. Without stopping, I looked down at my chest, expecting to panic and have to head home to change sweaters. Thankfully, none of the jam coated bread was on my puff ball of a sweater or anywhere else. I guess it must've fallen somewhere behind me. I sighed in relief, glad only my pants were messed up, and continued forward.  
_  
Well, there goes my breakfast._

-0-

I dragged myself into the classroom, holding onto the doorframe for support, gripping it for dear life. I heaved heavily, trying to catch my breath. It was at the point where I didn't quite need my inhaler, but some god damn air would be nice. It felt like I just ran the Boston marathon. Was that a thing? I'm pretty sure it's a thing. Probably. I didn't pay attention in history class.

My grip on the doorframe tightened when I noticed that no one was in the classroom. Well, spare for the scrunched up tiny figure that I called my best friend in the back row of the desks. And, like always, that scrunched up figure didn't look up from their notebook when I made my loud entrance. I coughed slightly, making a loud _ahem, _but still no luck. _Typical._

But wait, if no one besides him was there, did that mean-"Am I late or early, Fujioka-kun?" I called out in-between my heavy breaths. I slowly made my way over to the desk beside the puffy brown sweater and sat down, flopping my messenger bag on top of the wooden surface in front of my. It clanged from the metal water bottle inside. My friend still didn't look up.

"Early, Tsumiki-san." He snorted, just barely audible, but he snorted. I gave a goofy smile to him and adjusted my glasses which were falling down my nose, while he peered through his large frames at his notebook and wrote down various notes.

Haruhi Fujioka was like me. He was an honor student, like me, of course. So that made us both, ahem, _commoners_, or not even close to being as rich as the snobs around us. The richies called us commoners, which was supposed to be flattering, I suppose. It was the complete opposite. Haruhi fumed whenever we got away from the other students. It was comical, really.

He also really liked sweaters, or maybe I'm imagining that part. He did wear the same sweater every day. I liked sweaters. I always wore sweaters. Big, puffy sweaters. Oh! We both had glasses too! His frames were a little bit bigger than mine, but they shared the same color. He never told me if he was short or long sighted. I was short sighted.

I took a liking to him the first day we arrived at the school. I was lucky enough to get seated in front of him in our class. Being poor compared to the other students, I felt like I could relate to him more. Which I did. He hated the people as much as I did, and I found comfort in knowing he liked some of the same things. It gave me an excuse to hang around him a lot and keep my anxiety on low radar.

I would never survive this on my own anyways.

"Great." I sighed, patting my chest in an attempt to settle my heart rate faster. "How early?"

"Very early, Tsumiki-san."

"Great…"

-0-

I probably dozed off a couple times, but classes had come to an end faster than I had expected. That's normally a good thing for most students, but for Haruhi and me, that meant getting extra credit and trying to find a quiet place to study, since he didn't like going home right away and my house was too loud to study in. So when we had gotten our extra credit papers, the next step was, again, trying to find a quiet place to study.

…It wasn't going so great.

Haruhi angrily slammed the library door shut, mumbling to himself about _stupid filthy rich scum_ and_ no quiet places_ over the chattering coming from the closed door. I shivered in my place, messing with the hem of my sweater. I rarely saw this side of my friend, but when I did, it wasn't pretty. Haruhi was scary when he wanted to be.

"This place has four library rooms," he hissed, holding his book in his grip and adjusting his glasses slightly. "You'd think one of them would be quiet."

He stormed off and I followed closely behind, my boots scuffing along the carpet. I clutched my book to my chest and my bag swung by my hip. Haruhi headed off towards the set of stairs leading up and I hopped after him, holding on to the hand rail in case I slipped. I was fairly clumsy, I guess.

"I suppose the rich guys only come here to socialize and have fun." I suggested, shrugging my shoulders and slowing my pace when Haruhi and I reached the top of the stair case. "They don't have much to lose."

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

Haruhi kept grumbling, searching the long, long corridor for a free room. I tried my best to help, but the grand looking windows caught my attention. _The sky is so pretty today. _It really was. The dainty clouds hung closely together in the sky, forming beautiful puffs that seemed to move so slowly in the brisk wind. Blues and whites mixed together like a crashing wave and-

I wasn't quite paying attention when I almost bumped into my friend, but I caught myself._ I guess I let the writer in me get the best of me._ He had stopped in front of another door, labeled _Music Room 3 _on a small sign poking out of wall_. _He grumbled again, latching onto the golden handle of one of the two doors with his fist and clicking it, squeaking it open slowly and stepping inside.

I hid a foot or so behind him, away from the opened room, afraid of whatever was inside. Which there probably wasn't anything inside, it was an abandoned music room, but you can never be too careful. There could be a stampede, or an army brigade, or a giant crocodile, or-

I started sneezing slightly, an unfamiliar but way too familiar scent filling my nose.

…Rose petals.

"_Welcome_!" A chorus of voices called out from inside the room. I vaguely heard Haruhi begin to panic, so in turn I started to panic as well, my hair sticking on end. What was inside? My curiosity got the best of me and I peeked my head into the doorway, keeping my shaky hand on the handle in case I needed to make a hasty retreat.

I blew the bangs out of my face to get a better view of the situation, freezing in place when I spotted the figures inside. What the situation was, I honestly had no clue.

"Wow…" I breathed out, whispering to myself. There were, how many- one, two, three, four- a lot of handsome men. Almost_ too _handsome, like the ones in mangas and animes. Too perfect. Too unreal. Warning beeping and lights went off in the back of my mind, but I ignored it.

"T-This is a host club?" Haruhi stuttered, gripping onto his book tightly. His face paled tremendously. He backed up from the men, his back hitting the closed door to the left of me. Oh right, I still had a Haruhi to save!

"Haru-"

"Hikaru, Kaoru, I believe this young man is in the same class as you, isn't he?" I was cut off from speaking by one of the men. I peered over Haruhi's shoulder to get a better view of who his captors were. I think it was the one with the glasses who spoke. He, well, kinda freaked me out a little.

As if on cue, the auburn-headed twins next to him gave a light shrug, and spoke. "_Yeah, but he's shy. He doesn't act very sociably so we don't know much about him."_

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. _Twins? _Who sees twins anymore? And the spoke at the same time! I'm now slightly convinced I've been transferred into an anime and am now living out my fanfiction nightmares. Or dreams. Depends on the ending.

The man with the glasses gave a smirk and looked back to Haruhi, seeming to lock gazes with me. I flinched, biting my lip at my blown cover and the coldness behind his eyes. I hesitated coming further into view, distracting my eyes with my dirty pant legs. The man seemed to be pleased with himself and nodded slightly.

"Well, that wasn't very polite," he said to the twins, then turning his ice beams of eyes back to Haruhi and I. "Welcome to the host club, Honor Students."

"_What?" _In a whirl, a sudden blonde male popped up from a throne-like seat- wait, when did that get there?- and flocked over to Haruhi and me, ever so dramatically. He bent down to our height and looked Haruhi straight in the eyes, using a free hand to grasp my shoulder lightly. I squeaked, which went unnoticed, and the blondie continued his rampage. "You must be Haruhi Fujioka and Rin Tsumiki! The exceptional student and writer we've heard so much about!"

_Except you don't know what I write, _my thoughts pushed me to say, but I was so frozen in place I think I forgot to breathe. Haruhi went on to ask how he knew us, and I zoned myself out. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts! Pinch yourself and you'll wake up! Pinch, pinch, _pinch!_

Suddenly I was tackled by a small force, knocking my balance over. I swung my arms quickly, steading myself and my sudden attacker. I looked down to see a small, young looking boy with bright brown eyes and blonde hair. It was odd, he looked like he was supposed to be in elementary!

"Don't leave, Rin-chan!" He called up at me, his baby face in a happy grin, but obvious fake tears coming to his eyes. I froze up again. Human contact. Was not my thing. "You must be a super hero or something! That's so cool!"

Haruhi saw my uncomfortable state and tried to pry the boy off of me, which he sort of succeeded in. "Tsumiki-san isn't a super hero, neither am I. Also, don't call either of us chan." He scolded in an annoyed tone, and the blonde boy retreated to the circle of men in front of us.

"I never thought the scholarship students would be so openly gay," the tall blonde commented, tapping his chin with a curious look on his face. Haruhi paled, and I tensed up, my face flushing.

"T-That's rude." I stuttered out, while Haruhi repeated the word with dismay.

Then it started. The blonde strut back to us and wrapped an arm around both of our shoulders, practically sparkling. He put on a princely façade and purred into our ears, making me squeal in an uncomfortable fashion and making Haruhi tense up.

"Now tell me what kind of guy's you're into."

He removed the arm from my shoulder and pointed directly at each man as he spoke, putting a title to them. He started with the tall, tan guy with black hair. He stood with his hands in his pockets and his face held no expression. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all. "Do you like the strong, silent type?"

Then he pointed to the small blonde that had tackled me previously, and who was now hanging onto the tall, black haired guy's back like some kind of monkey. He held a small stuffed rabbit in his grip. "The boy lolita type?"

Then to the twins. They wrapped their arms together to form a lock and smirked deviously at the two of us, one winking while the other looked sort of embarrassed. "The mischievous type?"

Then, to the black haired guy with the glasses. He held tightly onto a notebook and pushed his glasses up with one finger. The evil aura around him never seemed to fade. "The cool type?"

"I- uh, i-it's not like that." Haruhi managed to spit out, waving his hands back and forth wildly. I nodded with him, trying to convince the men in front of us otherwise of what they were saying. "We were just looking for a quiet place to study…"

"Yea…h." I muttered, my voice falling dramatically before I could finish the word. Hey, I was panicked! Don't blame me!

Then- The blonde swooped down low, bringing his face close to Haruhi, and he smirked in a charming way. "Or maybe you're into a guy like me. What do you say?"

I took the time to back up quickly right before Haruhi launched himself away from the blonde. He knocked into me and we both tumbled backwards. My back and my head hit something hard and I fell, hitting the ground and knocking my head against the smooth marble. I was dazed, but I heard Haruhi let out a string of gasps and words I couldn't quite comprehend and then there was a crash.

_"Awwww," _two voices whined, and two appropriate shadows appeared over my scrawled out body. I looked to my left and Haruhi was there, looking pale, his hands shaking. He was staring down at nothing. "_We were going to feature that Renaissance vase in an upcoming auction."_

Vase?

I looked around me, and there was indeed pieces, and pieces, and pieces of broken glass on the ground. They were scattered all over around the sleek podium I must have hit when we fell over. My voice caught in my throat and I looked back up at Haruhi, who looked the same as I. Pale, shaky, and faint.

"Now you've done it commoners!" One of the twins sang, a cross look on his face. "The bidding on that vase was supposed to start at 8 million yen."

Haruhi started to count on his fingers, now dropped onto his knees. He shook and sputtered, finally looking up at the twins in defeat. I did the same, trying to shadow the tears pricking the corners of my eyes with my bangs.

"I'm gonna have to pay you back…" He breathed out suddenly, his eyes practically rolling back into his head. I nodded after him, since it was my fault the vase fell over in the first place. I did fall into the podium, after all.

"_With what money?" _The twins snickered, one pointing and me, the other to Haruhi. We automatically looked down at ourselves. "_You can't even afford the school uniform!"_

"Plus, Rin even has dirt all over his pants." The twin pointing at me laughed, and I squinted at him in a makeshift glare. His twin only laughed with him. _Are they mocking me? _"You're right."

Then the glasses man popped out of seemingly nowhere, tapping on his black book with a small snicker, his glasses glaring in the lights. He looked over at his blonde friend, who was now back sitting in his throne with a sad expression plastered on his face. "Well, what do you think we should do, Tamaki?"

The blonde, now known as Tamaki, dramatically crossed his right leg over his left, resting his hand on his palm. Then, he pointed slowly, ever so slowly at us, and his eyes jerked open in a sort of light bulb moment that happened in mangas. A small smile adorned his already handsome features.

"There's a famous saying you may have heard, Fujioka-kun, Tsumiki-kun." His smile only grew bigger and brighter as his spoke. "When in Rome, you should do as the Romans do. Since you have no money, you can pay with your body. That means, starting today," he paused to take in a breath before he declared our hell. "You two are the host club's dogs!"

I think that was when I fainted.


	2. Day Two - The Club

Guys it is almost four in the morning but I managed to spit this out for you all who actually enjoyed my stupid attempt at this kind of fanfic. Ouran fanfics are hard okay. Legit my OC was acting a bit OOC how is that even possible. But I promise myself I would not go back and rewrite the first chapter unless you guys say I should. I've never finished one of these but I am going to persevere! unless you guys don't like it hahah...

Anyways! Don't freak out when Rin's attitude takes a 180 okay he's sorta like that. Also do you guys prefer the spelling Honey or Hani? I'm going to be using Hani, but if you want me to change it, I will!

Also! Where do you want to see this story to turn? I know we're only halfway through the first episode (heavens me this is gonna take a while) but I want opinions! Do you want romance? More friendship? More development into Rin's personality? (Rin has a pretty complex personality okay he's kinda sad too just sayin') Feedback would be nice! Oh, shorter chapters or longer chapters? aka should I split these episodes into shorter chapters, or keep them at the same? because right now they're just below 4,000 words and I know that's a lot to read at a time so, just wondering!

Oh, question of the day, er, chapter - What's your favorite episode in the series? I'd love to know! I know my favorite is the beach episode, and maybe the one where the go to the mountain place thing I can not remember the name for the life of me whoops.

okay now to thanking everyone who reviewed and did the things!  
**Lavender1088** - Thank you! It's been a bit since the first chapter, but since summer is coming up, there should be more frequent updates. I'm a bit lazy though, haha.  
**Guest** - I'm glad you think this is funny! You'll see a lot of funny things in the future, I hope. Kinda winging this at this point haha...

Thanks to **Lavender1088** (again), **Pokemon Trainer White** (fellow pokemon fan? heck yes), and **TheDifferentGirl99** for faving and following!

Okay now back to your regularly scheduled programming

* * *

It was safe to say I was in a nightmare. No further discussion. These dreamboat men have dragged me into an evil scheme, and while all these alien creatures seemed to enjoy this…whatever this is, I was partially disgusted. And in my line of work, that takes a _lot_ to persuade me to jump to the other side. Haruhi seemed to agree with me one hundred percent.

We (being Haruhi and I) had only just got back from our errands for the club, and I wanted to leave again. Because roaming around a grocery store with a bunch of elderlies was a much better use of my time and energy. In truth, all of this lovey-dovey stuff made me want to gag. And I write typical love stories and post them on the internet! Shh, don't tell anyone though. Our little secret, okay?

Besides, it's a nice way to earn quick cash. It's not like I_ like_ to write it or anything, I just happened to find out I have the skill to write crappy romance that people seem to enjoy enough to pay money for…Anyways!

Haruhi grumbled beside me, we both hanging near the door to the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt whatever was happening. Only recently had I found out what a host club actually did, as Haruhi told me on the way to the store. And while I was intrigued, I couldn't believe such a thing could be run in a _high school_. A private, elite, top notch one at that. What kind of crazy man was this principal to allow _this?_

"Tamaki, what's your favorite song?" I overheard one of the many females at Tamaki's table ask. I saw her pull a strand of hair behind her ear and bat her eyelashes at him, acting like a love sick puppy. Ew. Yeah, I know it's hypocritical, but real romance sucks. No thank you. And for the girls to not use honorifics, even if they were flirting back and forth, didn't they find that, I don't know, disrespectful?

And like the dramatic prince Tamaki is, he leaned towards her with a gentle smile on his lips. "What song?" He thought for a moment, like he didn't already know the answer, then spewed a line that he most likely had said a million times to a million other girls. "The one that reminds me of you, of course."

"I baked you a cake, today," another girl piped up, looking more embarrassed than the first. She fiddled with her hands as a distraction from Tamaki's handsome face, most likely. At this point I noticed a lot of the girls looked the same, like background characters. Hm. "Would you like to taste it?"

"Only if you'll feed it to me, darling." Tamaki answered gracefully, sending the girl a wink. She practically melted into his hands like putty. The other squealed.

"Oh, you're so dreamy!"

"Annoying…" Haruhi muttered, adjusting his glasses. After him, I fixed my frames as well, unable to come up with a proper response besides nodding.

A new girl had sat down beside Tamaki, immediately picking up one of the free cups of tea off the table to sip elegantly at it. Her long red hair made her stick out like a sore thumb, and the fact that I couldn't hear the conversation going on between her and the prince bothered me.

Haruhi nudged me lightly with his elbow, sighing. "We better hand this stuff over before senpai gets impatient."

"Ah, right." For a moment, I had forgotten about the groceries in my arms. I'm surprised to see that I hadn't dropped them, but I wasn't complaining. If I had, it would most likely just add to my debt that was split between me and Haruhi. Remember that? The fact that we had broken a valuable vase? Apparently we're sharing the blame and half of the cost was thrown onto me.

"Ah, speak of the devils," Tamaki mused, throwing his arm out as if he was going to grab us, but he didn't. I stiffened up anyways, dropping the grocery bags on to his table, landing with a thud. Haruhi followed my action, but not before Tamaki swiped up something from the bag. By the look of the container, it was the coffee. "Hey, wait a minute. What is this?"

"Just what it looks like." Haruhi shrugged, his irritation obviously growing by the second. I can't blame him, I was already quite uneasy myself. "It's coffee."

"I've never seen this brand before…" Tamaki gawked at the bottle in his hands, rolling it over in his palm a few times. The girls around him stared at the container like it was a giant gem. "Is this the kind that is already ground?"

"Huh?" I butt in, looking down at Tamaki with a raised eyebrow. Haruhi nods along with what I have to say. "It's just instant coffee, what's the problem?"

"It's instant?" One of the girls asks.

Suddenly, Tamaki lights up like a Christmas tree, making me jump back slightly, though Haruhi still unaffected. "Wow, I've heard of this before!" He declares, bringing the container closer to his face to stare at the label. "It's commoners' coffee! You just add hot water."

Now the girls look just as amazed as him. "I didn't know there was such a thing."

"So it's true then, poor people don't even have enough free time to ground their own coffee beans." One of the girls muttered, looking shocked and a bit sad.

"Commoners are pretty smart." A sudden Kyoya made his way behind Haruhi and I with his usual routine of tapping his notebook with his pen. Of course, I jumped forwards, away from him. Haruhi, again, stayed with his stoic, annoyed expression. Seriously, did nothing faze this guy?

"A hundred grams for three hundred yen?" One of the twins popped up behind Tamaki, who was standing over a white sheeted table that had various appliances on it. Huh, when did they move to stand around that table?

"That's a lot less than we usually pay," the other twin chimed in, while his brother nodded along with him.

"I'll go back and get something else," Haruhi, obviously fed up with the rich snobs, snatched the coffee from Tamaki's hands. "Excuse me for not buying your expensive coffee."

Not a second later Tamaki took the coffee right back, holding it up in the air with a little too much pride. "No, I'll keep it." He shouted dramatically, earning a few gasps from the sudden crowd. "I'm going to give it a try! I will drink this coffee!"

And he got applause from the crowd around him like he was some big shot who just stopped global warming. Why.

"All right, Haruhi, come over here and make some of this commoners' coffee."

"I hate all these damn rich people." Haruhi groaned, gritting his teeth, but he obeyed and went over to the table. I muttered a 'good luck' to him, watching from a distance. He kept the crowd of hosts and guests entertained, as he guided them all through making a simple cup of coffee. Yet, Kyoya made his way to stand beside me, and that one girl Tamaki was talking to earlier stayed at her couch, sipping her fancy tea or whatever.

It was an uneasy silence until, "How long have you known Fujioka-san?" Kyoya suddenly asked, shocking me slightly. This was the first real time Kyoya had spoken to me, partially because I was scared shitless of him, but also because he was busy all the time. Realizing I was staring at him quite oddly, I cleared my throat.

"I met him when we first came here. We had to take some weird course before the school year started to make sure it was actually us who took the admittance test, or something." Kyoya gave a noise of appreciation and wrote a few things down in his book. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"Oh, just for records." He smiled a shameless grin that sent shivers down my spine, like he usually did. I was ready to go back to the silence, but what I didn't expect was, "Thank you, Tsumiki-san."

"Uh, you- um, you're welcome?" I managed to stutter out, questioning myself along the way. I can't help but admit that did make my heart skip a beat, and now it was Kyoya's turn to raise an eyebrow. I quickly turned away from him to stare back at Haruhi, who I saw was done with the coffee. "I better go- erm, help him out."

I quickly walked over to Haruhi without giving a proper goodbye, which was rude of me, but I was falling into forbidden territory and there was _no way_ I was going to let that happen. Who knows what I just put myself into? That shadow king is probably already writing in that horrible journal of terror about how 'Rin acts nervous around me' or how 'Rin stutters around me'. Probably just gave him an ego boost. Frick. Okay folks, let's make a vow! I, Rin Tsumiki, solemnly swear to never let the shadow king make my heart go doki doki ever again!

At the table, Haruhi was already passing out cups, looking exhausted. Tamaki was the first to receive a cup, and stared at it blankly before throwing his free hand up, like he did with all his declarations, I've noticed. "Let the tasting begin."

One of the girls who was holding a cup stared down at it with a conflicted expression. She spoke warily, "I'm a little scared to drink this stuff."

Another girl nodded. "I'm afraid if I drink this, my father will yell at me…"

On cue, Tamaki wrapped an arm around one of the doubtful girls – the father one, I think – and dipped her slightly, staring at her with a very convincing, yet fake, passion. The girl had already turned crimson. "What if I let you drink it from my mouth?"

If the girl would turn any redder, I was afraid the blood would spurt from her cheeks. "Oh, well _then_ I would drink it."

I scooted back quickly, as did Haruhi, and we were once again in our two man crew, staring at the rich snobs that have taken over our life. "This is ridiculous," Haruhi said, crossing his arms. He's said it so many times, equal to as much as I thought it, but it still hadn't been disproved.

"Tell me about it."

-0-

Haruhi and I were enjoying a comfortable silence between the two of us when the twins' hollering knocked us out of our wonderland. Assholes.

"So he had this nightmare that made him bolt right out of bed!" One of the twins laughed loudly, earning interest from the girls and a hurt expression from his submissive counterpart.

"Hikaru, don't tell them that story," the twin whined, obvious fake tears forming at the corner of his eyes. Mental note, the loud one was Hikaru, the soft one was- what was his name again? "I asked you not to tell anyone that. Why are you so mean to me?"

"I'm sorry, Kaoru-" Kaoru! That's his name! "-I didn't mean to upset you. But you were so adorable when it happened I just had to tell them."

Wait. What.

Hikaru made a move on his brother, cupping Kaoru's face in his hand, making him look up at him. He brought their faces only inches apart, looking like he was going to attack him at any second. Kaoru arched forwards, but couldn't much move at all, since Hikaru's arm was wrapped _AROUND HIS WAIST. _The girls sitting across from the twins didn't seem fazed at all, and- get this, they squealed. Legit _squealed._"What the f-"

"Why are they so excited?" Haruhi cut me off, thankfully, looking as shocked as me yet blank as ever. Again, nothing seemed to bother Haruhi in the slightest. I gave a light shrug, having to avert my eyes before I puked. "I just don't get it."

Now, don't get me wrong here. I have absolutely nothing wrong with boys love. Being pansexual myself – no, that does not mean I am attracted to pans – I have no room in my heart to judge. But they're brothers, and while having twin lovers is kind of a dream of every girl, I imagine, I don't think the point of that is the twins to love on _themselves_. And, it kind of grossed me out a bit. I have something called morals, you see.

-0-

Now around the only free table in the room, though a few girls stood near the couches, Haruhi and I finally had our free time. No girls, no boys, no nothing but each other's presence, which in itself was comforting.

Of course, until the giant and his short friend walked in.

"Sorry, we're running late." The short blondie yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was positioned on top of Mori's shoulders securely– I had remembered Mori's name, only because he was quiet and didn't attack me or Haruhi when we found the club. Plus he was cute. Always helps.

A couple of girls positioned around the empty table sat down, their eagerness spreading to Haruhi and I. We sighed. Once again, we would have to move. What was with this obnoxious club?

"Hello, Hani! Hey Mori!" One of them greeted cheerfully. One of the others nodded enthusiastically.

"We've been waiting for you guys, hi!"

"I'm sorry," the blondie, Hani – remember that, me – continued to rub his eyes, yet held on to his pink stuffed rabbit like his life depended on it. "I was waiting for Takashi to finish his Kendo meeting and I fell asleep. And I'm still not completely awake."

The girls all together squealed, going goo-goo eyes and fawning over Hani like he was an actual child. "So cuuute~!"

"Is that boy really a third year student?" Haruhi asked the air, earning a shrug from me. Of course, the infamous shadow lord had overheard him and appeared out of his hiding spot behind us.

"Hani-senpai may seem young and childish, but he's a prodigy." I jumped, at least not forwards this time, and twisted around to send a glare at him. Like he expected it, he smiled in return. That smug jerk. "And then Mori-senpai's allure is his strong and silent disposition."

"Haru-chan, Rin-chan!" The said bunny boy hopped over to us, looking up with hopeful eyes that practically sparkled innocence. "Hey, wanna go have some cake with me?"

"Thanks, but I don't really like cake." Haruhi said bluntly, looking over to me expectantly. I was almost drooling staring at the cake selection that had come into vision. They knew about my secret sweet tooth. They had too. They had strawberry cake. That was my favorite of all time.

"I'm sure a little can't hurt." I mumbled, staring down at my shoes. Hani's aura of pure happiness grew at least twenty percent, and he bounded over to his table, said a few words to the customers, and returned with a plate with a strawberry cake and a fork for me. He practically shoved it into my hands, and I fumbled slightly, but otherwise I was grateful. "Thanks, Hani-senpai."

Without a seconds notice, I began to chew on the cake, with small bites at first. I didn't want to seem like I loved it too much. Wanted to keep my secret, you know. Hani was already over at Haruhi and shoving his bunny into his hands by the time I selfishly began to eat my cake. His face was a bright as a really bright candle- wow, sucky simile- and he was back to his guests.

"You'll notice that our club utilizes each man's unique characteristics to cater to the desires of our guests." Kyoya spoke again after Hani left. I looked over at him, but he just stared down at Haruhi. Rude. "Just so you know, Tamaki is number one around here. He is the king. His request rate is seventy percent."

"What has the world come to." Haruhi sighed, looking honestly disappointed. Again, can't blame him. This was pretty ridiculous. Yet the ridiculously wasn't enough to keep me in focus because I think I spaced off for a moment. I was only brought back because of what happened next.

"You're going to have to work hard to pay of that debt, my little nerds." Tamaki purred after blowing air into our ears. I jumped, as did Haruhi, but he didn't nearly drop a plate with frosting on it. I glared at Tamaki while Haruhi just looked taken aback.

"Please don't do that again." Haruhi said bluntly, earning a successful grin from Tamaki.

"You need a makeover, or else no girl is going to look at you." Tamaki said, wrapping a loose arm around Haruhi. Oh, so they were starting this conversation? I might as well leave and sneak another piece of cake while I'm at it. I did not want to be around for this, to be honest.

So I did just that. While Tamaki focused on Haruhi, I went over to Hani and Mori's table and got another piece of cake, to which Hani beamed happily and Mori grunted in response. I hope he said I looked totally dashing in my sweater. Joking! So I ate my cake happily beside them and waited for the storm to blow over.

I knew Haruhi well. Not as well as I wanted to, but I knew his values and where his mind was at. At that conversation was not going to go on well, since Haruhi could care less about looks or gender or identity. He was a carefree guy about those type of things, and I appreciated him for that, but I have no clue how the coffee prince would take that. Probably badly. Because I felt like he was ignorant to other gender identities and that might tick of Haruhi.

The next thing I knew, the twins were running around like a whirlwind and only stopped to latch onto Haruhi to drag him into the changing room, despite his cries of protest. Tamaki called out commands to everyone, and eventually, it was just me and Hani left. Hani was told to eat cake. How harsh is that? I decided to stand by the door, since I couldn't just barge into the changing room and demand to have Haruhi back. I would give Tamaki a swift ass kicking later, though.

After some time though, Hani got up from his spot and entered the room without a care. It almost made my stomach drop.

A little bit later, I heard more commotion, shouting of some degree, and then everyone walked out of the changing room like everything was normal. I was slightly relieved, getting creeped out being by myself for that long. Who wouldn't? But instead of saying hello to me, everyone said their goodbyes to each other and just left, the door slamming once everyone departed. Just like that. Besides Haruhi though, Haruhi would never do such a cruel thing to me.

Still felt disappointed, though.

When I saw Haruhi though, I couldn't deny he was one hella attractive boy. Not like he wasn't before, but the uniform and brushed hair made him look a bit smarter, like he actually was. I didn't see why they took his glasses, though. He looked fine with them. I might even say I prefer them.

He did have a slight baby face, and his eyes were bigger than I imagined. His hair was properly groomed back and there were no loose hairs sticking up. He looked like a proper rich kid. I was almost jealous.

I gave a mock whistle and Haruhi rolled his eyes, adjusting the bag over his shoulder and slipping his glasses into one of the pouches. He sighed, and for once, it didn't seem like an annoyed one. That instantly worried me. "What's up?"

"I'm- They made me a host instead of an errand boy to pay of my debt." With everyone word, Haruhi seemed to get more down, while my eyes grew wider. _What._ "If I can get a hundred girls to request me, then I'm free. Which Tamaki-senpai said shouldn't be too hard, with how I look now, I guess."

"Rude." I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. Haruhi raised an eyebrow at me and I feigned hurt. But it actually did hurt a little, you know? Only a little but though. "They didn't give me a makeover."

Haruhi snorted and began walking, and I quickly followed. "I'm sure you'll get one, Tsumiki-san."

And only then did it sound absolutely great.


	3. Day Three - The Secret

Yeah, before you tell me, this chapter really sucks. Like, super bad. I was rushing just so I could get something out for you guys, and while the beginning isn't that bad, the ending is. I just couldn't find the motivation to get the good thinking going. I've been in a bit of a bad place lately, sorry to complain, but I don't want to just give you guys a bad chapter with no reasoning. Also this chapter is shorter than the others. By a lot. Legit a thousand words less. Probably because I should have shoved this bit into the last chapter, but that's a but too much, don't you think? I know I should've gone into more details with Rin's family too but, again, no drive to.

At least you get to see him get angry, right? Hahh...

Oh! Speaking of him getting angry, that reminds me- **Question of the chapter!** What do you guys think Rin looks like? Like, in details. Because I've been throwing small tidbits here and there, but those are small things. I just want to see what you guys think before I actually describe him full out.

Onto the thanks - not really going to go into the favorites/follows right now because the site is being iffy and everyone knows how frustrating _that_ is. Reviews though!  
**Caijda** - Thanks so much for answering all my questions! Sorry to disappoint with a shorter chapter haha. Romance won't come for a while, I don't think, unless people want me to rush it. Bromance on the other hand [wink wink]. Rin is really like a mixer, his personality goes from happy to neutral to angry to sad in like seconds. I hope that's not annoying? I actually don't like nekozawa that much, to be honest, but I'm giving him a chance for this story.  
**Serendipitysoul** - Thanks! I doubt my writing abilities a lot so this was nice to read!  
**Guest** - Thank you! Words aren't really needed, as long as I know you like it, hah!

* * *

If fact, I did not get a makeover. I don't think I would ever get a makeover. Because, the next day we walked a foot into that host club, Haruhi was whisked away to wonderland where he was brought through the host steps and code and morals and whatever the frick and a grocery list was shoved into my hands and I was told to scram.

Of course I was dramatizing things a bit, but you get the point. Everyone was fawning over Haruhi, and I was still the background errand boy.

You know that feeling you would get when you were younger and your parents focused on your siblings instead of you? Unless you don't have siblings but- you get the point. Yeah, I have that feeling right now. Deep down in my stomach and crawling across my organs and stabbing at my heart with poking sticks. And it sucked. Because I never got jealous, ever! Even that one time when my brother got a guitar for his birthday and when I asked for a guitar my parents said no. I was the youngest sibling at the time, though…

So, even after everyone having their eyes set on Haruhi, my bag was the one to end up in the fountain. How fucked up is that?

So here I am, with my face pressed against the shiny, polished glass, wondering what I did wrong. Alone in the long corridor, staring down at the indecent fountain I walked past each morning to get to my classes. I heaved heavily and grasped onto my inhaler so hard I felt like I would break it, just like I did with that stupid vase. I went through the precautions of getting my breathing to not be shit and shoved the inhaler back into my pocket.

Finally finding my words, of course they would be cut off. "Son of a-"

"Oh, it's you."

I whirled my head around, bumping my temple on the glass. I scowled, mostly at the temple hitting thing, but also at the fact that the red-head that was at Tamaki's table these past few days was standing in front of me with a smug smile on her face. She was staring straight forwards, hands crossed on her dress. She looked so proud. I wanted to rip her face off.

"You were the one to pass out, yes?" She asked, her eyes darting to me. That was right, I did pass out. Though not much did happen after it. The nerve of Tamaki to tell his guests. I could only let out a confused noise as she continued. "He only brought you in because he felt bad for you. Don't believe it will last long. It's useless, you know. While the other dog was groomed, you won't get as lucky."

She turned her head to face me for a moment. Her gaze was full of poison and she spat at me. "You'll always be a second class citizen."

And she walked off, leaving me with my jaw to the floor and my face flushed in anger, all the while the jealous feeling built up more. Thumping wildly and rapid like it was going to burst. I balled up my fists, my nails digging into my palms. Even after a warm liquid hit my fingers, I couldn't help but open and close my fists in a rhythmic motion to help me calm down, but it only continued to draw blood. In no way was I calming down. I finally had enough and slammed my hand onto the window sill, barking like a rabid dog. "God DAMN IT!"

Those few sentences were enough to send any positive vibe I had about the host club come spiraling down. It made sense, didn't it? The hosts must have seen how fragile I actually was. Fainting brought them a crystal clear view of who I actually am. And even though I was only out for a few minutes, they still saw. And they must have felt sorry for me, being the loner who only had one friend. It sickened me. The sheer thought of being pitied made me want to throw up. I was strong. I was taller than a lot of the hosts. They should be scared of me. They can't pity me. I pity _them_.

Clenching my teeth, I wiped up the drops I left on the marble with my sweater sleeve and stormed off to the nearest staircase.

-0-

Now I was in the pond, fishing around with my hands in the murky, yet still sparkling water to find my pencil case. My sweater was tossed aside with my other belongings I had dug out, laying on the brick outside of the pond. I could care less about my soaked shoes right now, they would dry, though my pants would be unforgiving if they would unroll. My notebooks on the other hand, with all of my writing ideas and plots and endings and dialogue-

I had to punch into the water to keep myself from digging into my palms again. I would definitely need a band-aid or two.

"Where the fuck is it?" I cursed, getting more frantic in my searching. Oh, you might be saying, it's just a pencil case, what's the rush? Sorry to inform you so late, invisible force watching me, but a very important locket is in that pencil case, and I would literally go mad if I couldn't find it.

"Hey, commoner!" A voice called out to me, making me jump. I knew that voice. I don't think I could forget it. I scowled as the earlier thoughts came back to me, continuing to search ever after he called at me again. "You've got some nerve, skipping out on club like that. We're out of commoners' coffee!"

"Frick dude, I just bought two bags of it!" I hissed, punching the water again at the fact that I couldn't quite curse around the prince yet and I still couldn't find my case. I heard him walk up to me, standing by my bag. He picked it up for a moment before dropping it back onto the brick, water droplets splashing. My eye twitched at how rudely he was handling my things.

"Why is your bag all wet?" He asked, leaning over the water to stare at me more. I mumbled to myself, shrugging my shoulders.

"Doesn't matter. I just need to - god damnit, I can't find it." Oh no, I cursed. I suspected Tamaki to call me out on it and lecture me on how it wasn't like a gentleman to curse, but instead, there was splashing behind me and the prince himself was digging around in the water with me. Taken aback, I almost fell over into the water. "D-Don't do that! You actually need to look presentable!"

"And what about you?" He asked, continuing his search through the water, the smile on his face was clearly visible. Though his face quickly dropped. "A little water never hurt anyone. Besides, people always say I'm dripping with good looks."

Stunned, I stood staring at him for a few moments. Tamaki the prince was annoying, frustrating, dramatic, childish, - albeit handsome and charming – but right now, right before my eyes, he was showing a mature, kind side to someone like me. Someone who would never have met anyone like him if their writing scholarship didn't exist. I was bewildered. My haunting thoughts ceased to exist for a moment, but only a moment.

"Hang on a second." I snapped out of my thoughts as he made a surprised noise, lifting his arms out of the water with something in his grasp. My pencil case. I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding. He waved the pencil case in front of my face. "This what you're looking for?"

"My…pencil case. Yeah." I grabbed it out of his hands, absently holding it close to my chest. A small smile forged its way onto my lips. "Thank you, senpai."

He stared back before bounding forwards and wrapping his arms around me in a constricting hold. He spun me around quickly despite my cries of protest. He screeched something about being cute a bunch before finally putting me down. I wobbled slightly, having to grab onto the brick beside me to keep from falling face first into the water. I was almost as tall as him, how was he able to do that?!

"Why didn't you say you were so cute?" He whined, his eyes sparkling. I could only stare blankly at him. "Maybe if we got rid of your glasses…"

"No. No way. Nope." I cut him off, protectively clinging onto the side of my glasses. Tamaki looked puzzled, tilting his head like a lost puppy. "I am keeping my glasses, thank you very much."

"Just a little peek?"

"No!"

I hurriedly climbed out of the pond and kicked my soaked shoes around, trying to get off any lurking water drops. Tamaki followed after me, unrolling his shirt and pants and putting on his shoes again. After a few seconds of silence, Tamaki blurted out something.

"How did your bag end up in the pond anyways?"

"I…" I couldn't just tell him one of his customers has a grudge against me and threw it out the window, could I? "I guess there's just bullies everywhere, huh?"

-0-

Tamaki had excused me from club duties for the day, saying I needed a day off from 'those vicious fiends that dare come near me'. I guess I did need a real break anyways. Besides the whole bully thing, I was exhausted, which was apparent with the heavy bags under my eyes and wobbly motions. I needed to take a nap. No- I was in desire need of a nap. The nap gods were calling to me.

"I'm home!" I called as I walked through the front door, shutting the door behind me as I stumbled to kick off my wet boots and socks. There were clangs and smashes coming from the kitchen, along with a burning smell. This was the main sign that mother was home.

"Oh, home so early, sweetie?" My mother called from the kitchen, just barely poking her head out to look at me from the entrance. She waved a pan in my direction before disappearing again. "I thought you had that club of yours' today."

My mom was the average looking mid-thirties lady. Small wrinkles on her otherwise clear skin, no grey hairs in her black locks, still a spark in her eyes. Her personality, on the other hand, was a bit much.

"Nah, they let me off early today." I shouted after her, throwing my bag on to the stool next to the door. I trudged over to the small living room and plopped onto one of the three chairs, sighing happily once the aching in my back disappeared. This chair was comfy. I could sleep here. And I probably would've if my mother didn't interrupt me.

"Phone for you!" She sang happily, waving the home phone from the kitchen doorway. I groaned, hesitantly getting up from my chair and grabbing the phone from her hand. I lifted it up to my ear and what greeted me was utter chaos.

"Uh, hello?" I asked awkwardly, wondering who would be calling my house to talk to me.

"Riiiin~" The two identical voices called from the other end of the line. I froze in place, almost dropping the phone from my lack of consciousness. "Rin?"

"Why do you have my number?" I demanded, stomping away from the kitchen to take the conversation to a more private place. The twins made a noise I couldn't quite decipher before answering.

"Kyoya gave it to us." They stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I groaned, rubbing my forehead. I would have a stern talking to the shadow king later – if I could work up the courage too – but right now I wanted to know why the devils were calling me.

"Okay, whatever, why are you calling?"

"Haruhi is a girl."

"…Excuse me?"

"Ha-ru-hi is a gi-rl." They repeated, sounding out the syllables. I could hear the grin in their voices.

I'm sorry, but what did they just say? Did I hear them right? By the sound of pure horror coming from what sounded like Tamaki, I was guessing I did. I clicked the 'end' button on my phone faster than I could process it.

So long story short to save you a dramatic monologue about how my best friend lied to me and how this was putting me into an emotional breakdown, I decided – after panicking for a good twenty minutes – to nap. And by nap, I meant curl up into a ball and stay there until I rotted into the ground. Hooray.


	4. Day Four - The Flashback

**IMPORTANT NOTE** - CHANGED THE STORY TITLE. USED TO BE 'ALMOSTS', NOW CALLED 'IN SPRING, WITH YOU' FOR SAD REASONS.

Woo back to three thousand words yay. i'm still in that hole, which probably affects what happens in the chapter, but i'm too tired to rewrite this again. I'm not really in the mood for triple checking either, so forgive any mistakes. I'll fix them in the morning. Probably.

the twins do call Tamaki tono right? i hope so. lmao I don't know. I'll fix it if not.

This chapter might get kinda confusing later on? I hope it makes some sense, at least. Its vague for a reason. Reasons that will come that I can't wait to write about. sads, man, hit home. Rin is being a little jerk like usual. don't worry, he'll get back to hating in silence soon. teenagers, m'I right?

OKAY BUT GUYS DO YOU SEE THOSE NUMBERS. WOW. THATS A LOT OF FOLLOWS. AND FAVES. AND REVIEWS. FOR THREE CHAPTERS? YOU GUYS ARE INSANE. I'm freaking out over nothing, probably, BUT I'M EXCITED.

**okay question time**. I know it's early, but I want opinions, man. Who do you think would be a suitable partner for Rin? [note I put partner bcuz hey it could be anyone, I don't judge. though being a mostly male cast...hahahh]

TO REVIEWS! you guys have some cool names while mine is just a bad pun you can use. [something's off with the situation. HAH. get it? get it? no?]  
**ForlornDream** - Thank you!  
**TheDifferentGirl99** - Yeah I was rushing, hope that didn't make things less, I dunno, interesting? Glad you enjoyed it anyways!

* * *

"What the fuck is this."

It was a little after school had ended and club hours had started. Reluctantly, I hurried off to the club before Haruhi. To say I was avoiding him- er, her –was an understatement. I hadn't talked to her all day and I wanted it to stay that way. Usually we would meet at the school gates when I didn't oversleep, but today was different. Yes, I was being a bit childish about the whole situation, but I needed a day or two to process it all. Haruhi understood. She was still chillin', despite lying about her gender. She probably had reasons I would listen to later.

There are three stages to being betrayed. Sadness, nothingness, and anger. Right now I was angry. Rightfully so. I would get over it in a day or two.

Besides, I had secrets too. It's not like I hate Haruhi now or anything. Like I said, I just need some time. And sleep. Boy did I need sleep.

Now back to reality land, I had just barely stepped into the club before I wanted to run away again. Overnight, the plain and pink fancy clubroom had transformed into a forest. Fake trees and all kinds of greenery were strung all over the place, making a dense tropical environment you would see on the discovery channel. I'm pretty sure someone had landscaped mini rivers somewhere in the massive forest, just for ambience. Plus, for added affect, they had put the heating system up to what an actual tropical place would feel like, and it was torture.

"Rin! Don't be so vulgar!" Tamaki shouted, pointing a demanding finger at me with a scornful look. Oh, the hosts were dressed in some kind of weird Egyptian thing. Robes and wrappings and fancy things like that. I had no clue; I never remembered my history lessons. I hadn't even realized I cursed either. Probably because I had gotten no sleep last night. "No gentleman has that kind of tongue!"

"Excuse me then," I snapped, whipping my head around to look at him. The grumpy look on my face startled him, and he retreated behind Kyoya, shivering. Kyoya on the other hand looked pleased with himself. "Never mind, it's probably stupid."

I ignored the hurt look on Tamaki's face and directed my attention towards Kyoya. My brows furrowed when I looked at him, seeing his smirking, evil, somewhat handsome face. "You shouldn't question how we-"

"Why did you give the devils my phone number." I demanded, cutting him off without a second thought. His mouth hung open from his unfinished sentence, and then he returned to his mock grin. What I would give to rip his head off his body.

"Every host is required to have contacts with each other." He replied, shifting his arm from under his layers of ridiculous clothes to adjust his glasses. My scowl only grew. "Emergency contacts, of course."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a host."

"Oh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow like he was surprised. He briefly looked to Tamaki, which caused me to look at him as well, making Tamaki in turn shrink further behind Kyoya like a terrified child.

"Whatever. Do I need to be here or anything because I would much rather go home and sleep."

"You are required to be here today, we may run out of supplies." Kyoya smirked, tapping his pencil on his notebook.

"Well then, I would love to stay and talk with you two, but I'm not going to." I gritted my teeth and stormed off, making my way through the plants and whatever else to find a secluded spot. I ignored the small bits of conversation I heard throughout the forest, not wanting anything to do with these dumb hosts right now. From the brief bits I saw before storming off, there were pathways to each host's table, and a pathway to the backroom. I, obviously, was making my way to the backroom, knowing it wouldn't be nearly as hot in there and I would be away from the devils.

Finally reaching the back of the room, I was relieved to find the space free of any fake greenery and there was a chair next to the door. I plopped my bag and sweater onto the chair and reached for the door handle, turning it, but nothing happened. Well, more accurately, the door was locked and I couldn't turn it. I pulled on the door handle with all my might but I could not turn it.

Kyoya was doing this to me on purpose. He made the twins call me last night so I wouldn't get any sleep and he knew that I would be grumpy and want to be alone so he locked all the doors that would allow me to be alone. What a jerk.

To keep my cool, I reached into my bag and grabbed the game system I packed just in case something like this happened, and shoved the bag and my sweater onto the floor. I flopped onto the chair and sighed, stretching out for a moment before sinking into the comfortable cushions. These chairs were an obnoxious color but damn were they comfy.

In an automatic motion, I flipped open the game system and pressed the power button, putting one of the earbuds in my ear. Lucky I remembered to plug in the headphones before I left this morning, playing a game without sound was frustrating. Taking out the special pen from the side of the system, I clicked on the game icon with it, sighing happily when the blaring noise of the start-up menu rang through the headphones. With the game volume so high, and only having one earbud in, I was sure anyone within a couple feet would hear the sounds, but I could care less.

I looked around for a few moments, making sure no one was around, before taking off my glasses and slipping them onto my shirt collar. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust without the lenses, but after the initial blurriness, it was smooth sailing. Hey, my glasses hurt my ears after a while, I needed a break. Plus, the 3D effects from the game didn't mix well with glasses. I wanted to see my battles in good quality!

Like I usually did after a few minutes, I got so immersed in the game that all surroundings were effectively blocked out, and only the sound of fighting Pokémon and button smashing registered in my brain. So, of course with my luck, I didn't hear the sound of plants being moved around and squashed, whenever that ended up happening. To me right now, it didn't exist. It might as well be as real as my Pokémon team right now. If only that were true.

I didn't quite register it at first. My brain didn't form a response. Couldn't. Of course, until my game was snapped shut and all sound stopped. No battle music, no roaring animals, no nothing except for the reality in front of me. I blinked slowly, staring at the shut system, which now had another hand gripping the top of it.

I looked up. The twins were staring down at me. The twin on the left was gripping my game in one hand, while his brother held a phone in the opposite hand. I blinked again. Then a sudden flash enveloped my vision, leaving me blind for a couple seconds. My blinking sped up as I tried to recover what was suddenly lost.

"…What?"

The situation finally registered in my head and the gears began to turn again, and I realized. I'm not wearing my glasses. The horrified look on my face seemed to fuel the fire in the twins, who just smirked down at me. They had taken a picture. They had taken a picture of me, without my glasses, looking probably like an idiot. My face flushed.

The phone holding twin spun his fancy device around so I could see the screen, to show he indeed did take a picture. Sharp, sleepy, and somewhat dangerous looking green eyes stared back at me. Dark circles were dominating over my lightly tanned skin. I had to blink again to make sure it was me in the picture.

"Do I always look like that…?"

Of course that would be my first response. And, not surprisingly, the twins' response to mine was a light hum. What type of hum, I couldn't decipher, but it sure did sound disappointed.

"Tamaki wanted your picture." The left twin started, tilting his head sideways with a grin. Oh boy.

"And we have it." The other twin smirked, waving his phone like a toy. The twins came together, closing the gap between the three of us. I shrunk back in my chair slightly, not wanting the devils being that close to me. If they did those _things_ to each other, who knows who would be their next victim. Probably not me. I could kick them away if I wanted to. Ah, the advantages of being an early bloomer.

_"We'll show tono unless you join the host club."_ The twins sang together, mad cheshire grins forming on their features. I only stared. They…weren't for real…were they? That kind of ploy was…

"Pft."

"…_What's so funny?" _They demanded, their grins falling dramatically. The left twin looked shocked while the right looked somewhat angry.

"Are you for real?" I snorted, snatching my game back from the twin's hand. I opened it back up and thankfully the game resumed without any issues, the roaring and violence music to my ears. "Go ahead. I don't care."

It was silent. And not those comfortable silences that you didn't really mind all that much, but a silence that made shivers roll down your spine. It was an uncomfortable, scary silence. I didn't dare look up this time. They were plotting again. And I didn't like it.

"Oh well." One mused, obviously and quite dramatically shrugging his shoulders. His twin, on the other hand, didn't have such a cool attitude. As they were walking off, I heard him say some, well, kinda cruel things about me.

I felt a ping in my chest and I had to grip onto my shirt to keep it from spreading.

"Oh well…" I repeated the twin, my lip quivering. Just exactly what did I do besides exist? Did they have some secret grudge against me or something? Immediately, that girl's words came rushing back, making my eyes burn. Despite Tamaki dispelling most of those feelings about himself, that didn't do anything for the other hosts. Did they really have something against me? "Can't help it, I guess."

I shrugged and went back to my game.

-0-

It hadn't been very long after the twin incident before the yelling started. No actual yelling, mind you, but the king shouts from Tamaki about some ridiculous topic.

Groaning, feeling that I should be a part of the topic, I made my way through the jungle – of course, putting my game away and wrapping my sweater around my waist first – and back to the main area of the club. Tamaki was in his princely stance, throwing his arms around and moving like a graceful fish. That was meant to be insulting, by the way.

Huh. Tamaki must have a really loud voice if I could hear him at his table.

"Next week, the Ouran host club is sponsoring a party." He declared, grabbing the attention of all of the guests and the host members. The shouting prince spotted me and smiled, turning some of the guest's attention towards me, but not for very long. "Ah, Rin, just in time!"

"We're throwing a party?" The familiar voice of Haruhi asked, making my heart hurt. I missed her. I would talk to her after the club.

"What kind of party is it going to be?" One of the guests from the twins' table chipped in, raising her hand. Hm. She was cute. "Is it going to be formal?"

"Yes, in fact we've rented the school's largest hall." One of the twins smirked, his eyes darting in my direction, but quickly back to the guest. I scowled, my hands reaching for something to hang on to. My sweater. I saw that, you little shit.

The other twin followed a similar motion, looking less teasing than the first. Still wanted to punch him though. "It's a perfect place for dancing."

"But I really wanted to spend some alone time with you, Kaoru." Hikaru – yes, before you ask, I remember their names so I can name them when they call each other – suddenly turned into lovey dovey mode and grabbed his brother by the chin.

Oh brother I wanted to barf. Again, nothing wrong with what they're doing, but just- brothers, man. It's like imagining myself putting on that act with one of my three brothers. Or, even worse, _all of them._ Yep. Gonna hurl.

"Don't be upset, Hikaru." Kaoru said, fluttering his eyelashes. "I know exactly how you feel."

Queue the fangirling. What about this interested those girls?

I scrunched up my nose in disgust, turning on my heel in an attempt to leave, but a large and horrifying screech halted me in my tracks, making me shiver. I about fell forwards at the force that I was tackled by, if it were not for the sturdy plants around me I could grab onto. I screeched myself, but it was more of a string of curses. The guests– and hosts alike – paused in their ball gossip and turned their heads, gasping.

"RIN I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO TAKE YOUR GLASSES OFF!?"

Tamaki's yelling statement/question made my heart stop. No, it made the entire _world_ stop. I immediately tried to shake him off, crying out incoherent nonsense even I couldn't understand. So _that_ was what the twins were smirking about. Evil devils…

"Don't know what you're talking about!" I tried to cover up, my escape seeming more pointless as I moved more frantically. "Totally have my glasses on. You're imagining things…!"

And then they caught me. Two arms slinked their way through mine, locking me in place like some kind of snake. They constricted my movements so I could only kick, and my legs weren't that strong, so a few seconds later I couldn't thrash around anymore.

"Get 'em, tono!" The twins shouted, the grins taking over their faces. The absolute horror that started to settle in the pit of my stomach was suffocating. I couldn't breathe, and my inhaler was in my bag, which I couldn't reach. It hadn't really affected me earlier. That's because there were only _two_ people seeing me. But now- oh my god. How many guests did they have? A million? Billion? I haven't taken my glasses off in front of these many people since-

"No, you guys, don't!" A worried Haruhi came into motion, trying to stop the trio before they did the deed.

Too late. Tamaki had pushed the messy locks of hair hanging in my face away, revealing my angry and scared expression to the world. My breath caught in my throat and I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. And there was silence. Total, complete, deafening silence. My eyes darted around quickly, to everyone's faces, to see their expressions, but I saw nothing. Silence. I grew more worried by the second, turning my head now, but nothing. Silence. Hot tears welled up in the corners of my eyes. I didn't want to cry. It was just. Silent. Too silent.

And then an eruption of squeals broke the barrier, sending me overboard.

"He looks so shy!"

"That adorable expression on his face!"

"I could just hug him!"

"Let him go, you idiots!"

_"Tsumiki-chan." _

…Huh?

What were they saying? I couldn't hear it. Everything was becoming a bit…distant. Blurry. The figures in front of me didn't have any features anymore. They were just that- figures. Blobs of colors and outlines, but not entirely an entity on their own. Shapes spinning with words that sounded in an entirely different language. But then they downgraded to spinning circles. Bubbles, almost, drifting high into the sky and disappearing. And then everything was enveloped in white. No screaming girls, no panicking Tamaki, no restricting twins, nobody.

No one but myself and the nothingness.

_"You look nice today!" _A voice I no longer recognized called out to me, making me whirl my head around. Skipping. Running. Smiling. Laughing. It reached up and patted my head, the laughing more prominent now. No longer just a blur in front of me, but a sound as whole.I could hear it. It had a voice, a shape, a body, features. It was a person, but I couldn't tell who. _"If only I could pull off that haircut! It only suits Tsumiki-chan, though."_

But then there wasn't even that. At a drop of a hat, everything was just white again. I reached out but my hand grasped nothing. It was gone, just like everything else. And I was alone again.

-0-

When I woke up finally, the sun was shining through the curtains, blinding me. I raised a hand to my face, groaning lightly as my muscles screamed at me to not get up. There was more stirring, though not from myself, and I flopped my head to the side to see what the commotion was.

To my surprise, it was Kyoya, the devil himself, standing up from his chair to walk over to me. His usual notebook was in hand, and he kept on with the tapping of his pencil, but his usual smug looking grin was replaced by a look of…concern? What? Or maybe it was more sorrow? Maybe, possibly, anger?

"You were out for a while. This is the nurses' office." He stated, matter-of-factly, shaking his head at me as if telling me not to move. "I suggest not moving yet."

"What…happened?" I had to ask, my voice groggy and unsure. Kyoya raised an eyebrow before scribbling something down in his notebook. Was it about me? Probably. "My head is killing me."

"Those three idiots scared you into a panic attack." He sighed, rubbing his forehead with his free hand. I blinked slowly at him, taking a moment to process his words. "You're lucky you didn't need your inhaler."

"Huh?" I moved more this time, wincing when I sat up on my elbows. "How did you…?"

"I have all of your records." He cut me off, flipping through his notebook a few pages before landing on – what I was guessing – my 'records'. He hummed thoughtfully, and when he was about to speak again, he snapped the book shut. It made me jump slightly, but Kyoya made no notice of it. "Tsumiki Hiy-"

Now it was _my_ turn to cut _him_ off. "Please don't say that name. Ever." I hissed, sitting up straight now. Kyoya continued to stare, unsure of what to do, I assumed. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, then opened it again.

"I apologize. I know the meaning behind-"

"Would you _shut up?"_ I growled, my eyes glaring. Kyoya seemed unaffected, though the eyes behind his glasses made him look unsure. I sighed and threw the covers off of me and hopped off of the bed, wincing again, having to hold my head. Kyoya made a protesting noise, but I shushed him, grabbing my bag from the end of the bed and throwing it around my shoulders. "I'm going home."

"Very well."


End file.
